Notre Dame Is Joining The ACC

Notre Dame is divorcing the Big East to run off with the ACC, though the ACC's news release doesn't say when. Football is part of the deal, too, though not all the way:

The Irish will compete as full members in all conference sponsored sports with the exception of football which will play five games annually against league programs.

Pete Thamel of SI says a Notre Dame official told him the timetable is "very murky," since ND can't leave the Big East until 2015 without paying an exit fee. By playing a partial ACC football schedule, the Irish will not be eligible to compete for an ACC football title. More Thamel:

The move may cost the Irish some traditional opponents in football, as a Notre Dame official said that the school's top priorities in football scheduling moving forward will be to retain a West Coast presence — games against USC and Stanford — and the annual game with Navy. That means Notre Dame's games against some of its Midwest opponents could be in danger.

A source told Yahoo's Dan Wetzel that Notre Dame made the move because of football scheduling concerns, which Wetzel said were "[b]igger than weakening of Big East." Oh, and now that the ACC appears to be done ransacking the Big East, it's raised its own exit fee to $50 million.

ACC Accepts Notre Dame as New Member [ACC] Notre Dame joining ACC as non-football member [SI] [ Twitter]